He said: “Why did it take almost a year for the SNP to acknowledge and act upon what the experts on the ground had told them?

“Why did Nicola Sturgeon not fix the problem when she was in charge?

“Why did Alex Neil wait until newspapers were telling him that our hospitals were at breaking point before he was dragged into action?”

Lib Dem health spokesman Jim Hume said: “Rather than take steps to save countless patients from long waits and the increased risk of bed sores, the Scottish Government buried the report and pretended all was well.”

Tory health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: “There is mounting evidence that what Nicola Sturgeon left behind in the health brief was nothing short of chaotic. This is another story of warnings ignored – and patients paid the price.”

The scandal of thousands of seriously ill patients waiting hours for A&E treatment exploded in January when we told the story of John McGarrity, 84, who was left for eight hours on a trolley in a freezing hospital corridor.

The report led to dozens of NHS staff and patients ringing the Record to lift the lid on the crisis.

Dr Jason Long, chairman of the Scottish board of the College of Emergency Medicine, yesterday confirmed the Scottish Government had been warned about chaos in A&E well before the winter.

He said: “It was exactly the sort of thing we said was going to happen.”

Neil, who had replaced Sturgeon as Health Secretary in September, finally agreed to act on January 24 – after initially insisting that John’s case was an isolated incident.

In a dramatic U-turn, he admitted there was a crisis and unveiled a £50million emergency action plan.

Last night, Neil insisted the Scottish Government had taken “quick and decisive” action.

He said: “While there is no doubt that emergency care remains a serious issue, this Government have acted in relation to the concerns raised in this report and we are delivering practical, long-term solutions that will sustain our NHS into the future.”